As I said, Ive never been so proud to proclaim my pride at being a proud Welshman standing here before you.

Okay, this is an exaggeration. But its a classic case of PS.

Why do we feel this need to pipe up about how proud we all are?

I wont lie to you, Im pretty annoyed about whats occurring and Im as Welsh as they come born and bred in a town that once ruled the industrial world.

But there are examples of PS everywhere.

Take the ring name of our most successful sporting export.

Joe Calzaghe is referred to as The Pride of Wales.

Yes, the boy can box and theres no doubt his achievements give the tag genuine authenticity.

More than that, Joe is a brilliant ambassador for these shores and hes as modest as they come.

But why couldnt he be given more of a stinging sobriquet to properly grace his dazzling skills in the ring?

What about Joe The Perfect Pugilist Calzaghe?

Or Joe He Goes Toe to Toe Calzaghe?

Because they are ridiculous tags, thats why. As ridiculous as this overweening necessity to proclaim how proud you are of your Welshness.

Those who were responsible for coming up with Joes ring name probably cottoned on to this rising sense of PS and thought: Thatll get em going theyll be properly proud of the Pride of Wales.

Its as if weve developed a paranoid sense of getting the reaction in before the criticism like a rebuff to the Anne Robinsons of this world.

Banging on like this is a bit of an oxymoron anyway.

The suggestion being, if you dont say it, you must be ashamed of your Welshness. Its equivalent to Arnold Schwarzenegger saying: Havent I got big biceps?

Totally unnecessary Arnold, but thanks for the self-acknowledgment.

While it was great to see Joe wearing a Cardiff City shirt at the weigh-in before his Las Vegas mega bout, the idea of the Welsh theme being stitched to all and sundry has always griped me.

The tipping point came with the announcement that the Welsh national anthem would be sung at Wembley before Cardiff kick off their FA Cup Final against Portsmouth this weekend.

Putting pressure on to allow this was absurd and the English Football Association should have stood up to it.

Instead, it keeled over, probably afraid of causing offence.

The tradition of the FA Cup should have remained but this famous competition, the oldest in world football, has now been tainted with PS.

Pride comes in many guises.

I was at the Wembley semi-final and there were pockets of Cardiff City fans who expressed their allegiance in bizarre fashion.

If a player from the opposing team kicked the ball into touch or missed an easy chance some fans would jump up, arms wide with blazing eyes and tongues stretched so far from their mouths it was if theyd just swallowed a stingy nettle.

This took place quite regularly and came with a collective belch of arrrgghhhhh, to the sound of what seemed a violently aggressive burp.

But, to come back to the point, the tendency to fall victim to PS is just as unsavoury.

Hang on, discount the last one the Nye Bevans of this world are long gone.

Theyve been replaced by the rent-a-quote mob. But thats just my opinion.

PS: When youve got in your ranks the likes of the worlds most successful boxer, Europes finest rugby team, a football team in the final of the worlds greatest competition, award-winning writers, actors and singers glow in the glory.